Three Palestinians were killed on Thursday in a fresh Israeli helicopter raid on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Palestinian medical sources said.
Two missiles were fired in the raid, which also left 15 people wounded, said Rafah hospital director Ali Mussa.
It was the second Israeli air strike of the morning against the camp, which was also hit overnight. Three Palestinians were killed in the first raid, and seven killed and seven wounded in the overnight strike.
The Israeli pounding came after Palestinian militants blew up an army vehicle in Rafah killing five soldiers in the border town.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army occupied and demolished several Palestinian houses in Rafah on Thursday.
Israeli chief of staff Moshe Yaalon told army radio that troops had ”seized control of several buildings” in Rafah and were widening the buffer zone which runs along the Israeli-controlled border with Egypt.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, more than 11 000 Rafah refugees have been made homeless by Israeli demolitions since the start of the intifada in September 2000.
Israeli bulldozers have been razing entire blocks in Rafah’s camps to enlarge the buffer zone along the border and impede construction of tunnels which the army says are used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons in from Egypt.
The five soldiers killed in the buffer zone Wednesday were looking for such tunnels, an army spokesperson said. – Sapa-AFP